More than half of Canadians don’t know significance of this year’s Remembrance Day — plus free-access offer to Ancestry, Fold3, Newspapers.com

If Ye Break Faith – We Shall Not Sleep, WWI, Nicolet, Frank Lucien (1887-?), Ref: WP1.B1.F1. Rare Books & Special Collections, McGill University Library.

Ahead of November 11, a study commissioned by Ancestry reveals that the majority of Canadians are unaware that this Remembrance Day marks a significant milestone: the 100th Anniversary of the end of The Great War.

The survey, conducted by Leger Marketing, also indicates a substantial dip in the number of people who plan to commemorate Remembrance Day at all — down to 80 percent this year from 86 percent in 2017. Those under 35 are the least likely to commemorate Remembrance Day in 2018 (72 percent, down from 78 percent in 2017).

Originally referred to as Armistice Day by the British Commonwealth, the end of the First World War has been commemorated by Canadians for a century as of November 11 this year.

The poppy has been a prominent symbol of Remembrance during this time, yet the survey reveals only 59 percent of Canadians will mark Remembrance Day with a poppy purchase (down from 70 percent in 2017) and fewer still (46 percent) will observe a moment of silence.

Canadian women are more likely than men to buy a poppy (65 percent for women, 53 percent for men) or observe a moment of silence (51 percent for women, 41 percent for men).

When asked about WWI, respondents aged 35 to 44 were the least likely to know the significance of this centenary year, with only 37 percent correctly identifying this Remembrance Day as the 100th Anniversary of Armistice / end of WWI.

Across all age groups, less than a quarter (22 percent) of Canadians correctly identified that Sir Robert Laird Borden was the Prime Minister of Canada during the WWI period. In fact, eight percent selected British WWII Prime Minister Winston Churchill when asked to identify the Prime Minister of Canada during the conflict.

While the survey reveals some gaps around Canadians’ knowledge of WWI in general, it also highlights that many don’t know if they have a personal connection to The Great War through their ancestors. Nearly four out of ten admit to having no idea whether their family served in the conflict, and of those who don’t plan to commemorate Remembrance Day in any way, 29 percent (the largest group) say this is because they don’t know if they have a connection to WWI, WWII, and our soldiers.

Free access to Canadian military records
To encourage people to discover the stories of veterans throughout history and explore the role their own ancestors played in wars throughout history, Ancestry is offering free access to all Canadian military records from November 8 to 11 at www.ancestry.ca.

Bonus access for Ancestry subscribers
Existing Ancestry subscribers will have free access to Fold3 and Newspapers.com from November 8 to 11.

Lesley Anderson, spokesperson for Ancestry said, “We encourage people to use the free-access period on Ancestry to discover their own links to historic conflicts and hopefully commemorate the lives and stories of their own ancestors — and all those who have served — on November 11th this year.”

Provincial differences

• The province with the lowest proportion of people likely to commemorate Remembrance Day is Quebec (50 percent plan to commemorate)
• Alberta (91 percent) and the Atlantic provinces are the most likely to commemorate (91 percent)
• Respondents from Alberta were also the most likely to correctly identify Sir Robert Borden as the Prime Minister during WWI at 29 percent. Quebec was the least likely to identify this correctly at 16 percent.

Ancestry is also supporting The Royal Canadian Legion’s MyPoppy.ca campaign, the first-ever digital poppy initiative, growing a new generation of poppy supporters online.